Cafe zur Blauen Flasche

Description

A small Viennese coffeehouse on a side street behind the Naschmarkt, tucked between a tobacconist and a wine merchant’s warehouse. The facade is unremarkable: a painted blue bottle on a wooden sign above the door, the paint flaking at the edges. Inside, half a dozen tables crowd beneath a low ceiling stained amber by decades of tobacco smoke. The light is poor before noon, filtering through two narrow windows that face the street. The air smells of Turkish coffee, pipe tobacco, and the faint sweetness of fresh pastry from the kitchen in the back.

The clientele is the second tier of Vienna’s diplomatic community: secretaries, translators, military attaches, and the kind of men who arrange things for the men who take credit for them. The Blue Bottle is not fashionable enough to attract attention and not disreputable enough to attract suspicion. It is, in the vocabulary of men like Morosi, discreet.

Notable Features

• The back table: A table against the rear wall, partially screened by a coat rack and a large potted fern that has seen better decades. This is where Morosi conducts business. It has a clear sightline to the front door and is far enough from the other tables that conversation at a normal volume cannot be overheard. Ferrante sat with his back to the wall.
• The kitchen door: Behind the counter, a swinging door leads to the kitchen and a narrow corridor to the back exit onto a service alley. The back exit opens onto a lane that connects to the Naschmarkt’s loading area. Two ways out.
• The blue bottle: A cobalt-blue glass bottle, roughly 18 inches tall, sits in a niche above the counter. It has been there since the establishment opened in 1782. Grünbaum claims it was brought from Constantinople by his grandfather. His wife says he bought it at a market in Leopoldstadt for twelve kreuzer.

Staff

Herr Grünbaum — Proprietor

A quiet, balding man in his mid-50s with a careful manner and ink-stained fingers (he keeps the accounts himself). He wears a clean apron over a brown waistcoat and moves between the tables with the unhurried precision of someone who has been pouring coffee for thirty years. He knows every regular by name and every stranger by the quality of their shoes. He refills cups without being asked and leaves the room when the conversation at the back table drops below a certain volume. He has survived three changes of government, two occupations, and the complete collapse of the Viennese coffeehouse district during the French bombardment of 1809 by understanding that discretion is the only product that never loses value.

Languages: German (native), some French (enough to take orders), a few words of Italian (learned from Morosi).

Portrayal: Polite, efficient, invisible when he needs to be. Addresses everyone as “mein Herr.” Does not make eye contact during sensitive conversations. If asked about anything he has overheard, he heard nothing.

Josef — Waiter

Early 20s, wiry, dark hair, a stained apron that has been washed so many times the original colour is a matter of speculation. He sets down coffee and pastries with practised speed and retreats. He speaks only German and does not pretend otherwise. He is Grünbaum’s nephew and has worked here since he was fourteen. He notices everything, repeats nothing, and can carry four brass coffee pots on one arm without spilling a drop.

Portrayal: Quick, silent, slightly nervous around military men. If addressed directly by a customer, he looks to Grünbaum before answering.

Connections

• Signor Morosi — regular patron, chose this venue for the Ferrante meeting
• Capitano Luca Ferrante — has visited before (Morosi’s previous introductions)
• Near the Naschmarkt, within walking distance of the Josefstadt and Thaliastraße

Appearances